


Hunting Pride

by ismellitblue



Category: Empire (TV 2015), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Angst, Complicated Relationships, Daemons, F/M, Family, Gen, M/M, Siblings, Souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 22:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: A lot of people who didn’t know him often assumed that Lucious Lyon’s daemon was, rather predictably-a lion-…that was completely untrue.





	Hunting Pride

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own empire or HDM, I just like writing the fics.

A lot of people who didn’t know him often assumed that Lucious Lyon’s daemon was, rather predictably-a lion-…that was completely untrue.

When Dwight Walker had been cold and alone in the streets, he’d wished _and wished_ ,…and _wished_ , that Kali would settle as a lion(big and fierce, like the statue that gave him comfort-no one messed with the king), but that never happened.Instead after a particularly rough beating (one he’d been lucky to get away from), he’d held Kali, who’d been an alley cat then, close, crying into her fur.

“The time for tears is over”She’d said, her warm cuddly fur giving way to scales that sizzled like water on a hot pan.

“From now on,we fight,”Wiping his tears he’d found himself staring a snake dead in the eye.Its flat head raised as it rubbed its scales together.

The next day,Dwight Walker had died beneath a lion statue and Lucious Lyon had taken his first steps into the world.An hour later, there’d been three dead bodies behind them and Lucious’ pockets had been lined with cash.

The wannabe gangsters, with their hulking bear and dog daemons, hadn’t thought much of a little boy.

Afterall, they’d beat him and his daemon to a pulp the previous night, what could he possibly do against them.

Their daemons hadn’t even realized they’d been bitten, Kali’s venom already doing its job when she wound up Lucious’ leg,making herself visible.

By the time they met Frank Gathers, they were fearsome in their own right, but they knew you didn’t say no to well known bond slayer, who also happened to be a cannibal.

“Let him have the city, in the future we’ll have the world”Kali hissed and Lucious turned smiling(mostly as a way to hold back nausea and the rest to keep himself from fainting),as he watched Frank’s chimpanzee feed on the remains of a soul thread as Frank himself cooked a human liver, adding seasoning to it.

***

The very first time Lucious met Cookie, he looked at the peacock beside her, its feathers splayed proudly, both of them strutting their stuff as they walked, and scoffed(but his gaze-like that of the other boys still followed them).

A princess, definitely not street smart he thought…and then he watched her stand her ground against some boy trying to attack one of her sisters.

The peacock’s feathers were still out, but all the showiness was gone.

All that was left was a raging beast with a foul mouth, backed by a girl totting a baseball bat like it was purse.The peacock fought fiercely, clawing at the eyes of the terrier it was fighting, while the Cookie, wielded the bat like a pro, all her strikes earning pained grunts and screams.

“Don’t let me catch you around here again!”She yelled after the boy as he ran.

Squatting down she leaned the bat against herself, not putting it down completely(smart girl) and began straightening her daemon’s feathers, grooming him as the two of them talked.

“Cook, if I see that puppy again-”

“I hear you Ra, I’ll-”

He was too far to hear most of the conversation, but watching them right each other was kind of endearing, especially when Cookie took a fake fur coat from her sister, shrugging it on and hiding her bat beneath it as they walked off, the peacock once again strutting beside her.

“I like them”Kali hissed.

The next time Lucious saw them, he made sure to talk to them.

“I’m Lucious, and this is Kali,” He said, and his daemon shifted from around his neck, raising her neck.

Unlike most people Cookie didn’t seem unsettled by the sight of the viper and Cookie counted that as a win.

“I’m Lo-Cookie and this beauty, is Raphael, but he prefers Ra” She replied, when it looked like she was about to walk away, Kali tightened her coils and spurred him into action.

“Do you wanna dance”He asked, and she smiled ever radiant and when they started trying to out-dance each other he felt Kali slither off of him, from the corner of his eye, he saw her coil around Ra, the peacock, allowing the touch-completely at ease.

Years later, when they’d all but destroyed each other, and he had Anika by his side, he’d try to get the snake to do the same to Anika’s golden monkey, and almost  be bitten in response.

“That creature is not, and never will be Ra,”She’d hiss.

But neither of them had any way of knowing ,what was to come, so they just enjoyed the music.

***

For the longest time, Lucious had expected Andre’s Vera to settle as a dog.

Loyal, obedient and respecting the chain of command.

What he hadn’t been expecting…was a leopard.

A predator that made its own rules, lived by its own laws, and was an uncontrollable force of nature-with a not quite right look in its eyes(a familiar look Lucious had been trying to forget most  of his life).

“Aren’t you proud of me pop?”The boy had asked, and Lucious had forced his closing throat to make a noise that could be taken as a yes.

With Kali’s sizzling getting worse he’d excused himself from the room, locking himself in his office and waiting until his breathing calmed and Kali wasn’t so agitated to get up from the floor to make his way to the desk.

“Andre is not your mother ,and Vera is nothing like Indie”The saw-scaled viper hissed, sounding just as rattled as Lucious felt.

Lucious wanted to believe her, he really did, but he could tell that even she didn’t believe herself.

Afterall, both of them still remembered the water, the cold _cold_ bathtub water, and being absolutely powerless, held down by someone stronger.

“Indie  is a cougar, and Vera is a leopard-we’re safe”Kali said and Lucious nodded, untangling her to quiet the sizzling that had picked up at a much louder volume.

It should have been easy to move on from there-they knew the difference, spots Andre’s daemon had _spots_ , but Lucious knew, _he just knew_.

Sometimes when Andre was focused and Lucious stood close his eldest, he could feel it-the shift in the air around Andre and Vera, with the daemon staring intently at something only she could see and Andre disconnected from everyone.

“He’s just thinking”Kali would whisper, and Lucious would try to throttle his fear, but it never went away.

Andre passed high school,went to college, met a girl( a trust fund baby with wild cat daemon that packed quite a punch-Lucious didn’t like her, but if pressed he’d admit he at least respected her).It should have been proof that his fears were unfounded, but each time Lucious looked at Vera and Andre, he could almost hear the clock ticking.

When the boy’s first full blown bipolar episode came, Lucious was ashamed of the wave of relief he felt.Finally, the wait was over,the other shoe had dropped, and he and Kali were still alive.

Looking over at Jamal and Hakeem, confused and scared, their daemons curled up together he felt bad for them.They still had hope, didn’t know just how bad Andre’s disease was, it would be a small mercy to have Andre locked up permanently.

Just as soon as he’d made up his mind,Vera broke free of the medic’s octopus daemon, and headed straight for him.While Lucious stood frozen,Kali was already on the move, unwinding and curling in on herself as she moved, seeming to fly towards the big cat…and Vera just stopped.

The crazed leopard let Kali slither up her leg and rest around her neck.The viper whispering soothing words to the cat.Vera didn’t attack her, not even once, and when it was time for them to go, she went willingly, clearly still confused, but trusting Kali enough to follow her gentle commands.

“He’s coming home”Kali said later that night and Lucious found he couldn’t deny that.

The boy was broken, but he wasn’t Lucious’ mother.In her mania the woman and her daemon were uncontrollable, they hurt anyone who stood in their way, but Andre at heart was a good person(unlike that witch).Even in his worst moments he still recognized family, and that was probably the best Lucious could hope for.

***

Lucious watched Hakeen grow as the years passed, first from the infant crying for his mother, to the young man claiming to not need her anymore.

The boy tried to assert himself as a person of his own,trying to mimic Lucious, but to the eldest Lyon he could tell the boy took after Cookie more than him.

When Khaila finally settled, pieces of Lucious’ jagged heart rubbed together each time he saw the bird.

A rainbow lorikeet.

Her colors bold and bright, showing off each chance she got.Flitting aroung Hakeem when he performed and spreading her wings wide each time posed for the cameras.

Look at me, her pose seemed to say, with Hakeem pampering her beyond reason.Giving off the air of a spoiled prince(which he was), but beneath all that was a fighter, bullheaded in the face of danger and more than a little bloodthirsty-just like Cookie-but Hakeem didn’t know that.

Seeing them after their first meeting with Cookie and Ra, made Lucious laugh.Khaila’s normally well groomed feathers were in disarray and Hakeem was spotting one heck of a shiner.

“I see you’ve met your mother and her peacock”

Khaila had squawked,indignant-clearly not over hurricane Ra and Hakeem had grumbled-to an outsider it looked as though they were mad, but Lucious and Kali could see the curiosity, and respect in their eyes.

 As time passed and mother and son got closer,having their daemon stand together(usually with Khaila on Ra’s back, the two of them showing off for the crowds became common).

***

For the longest time Lucious’ biggest disappointment-above even Andre-was Jamal.

The boy was too soft, too feminine, and no matter how many beatings Lucious gave him, the boy just wouldn’t let go of his weakness.Then came his lifestyle(with Lucious having to chase out little boys, with Kali sizzling as she advance on their daemons).

“I don’t have any daughters, I shouldn’t be chasing boys out of my house”Lucious complained,Kali for the most part was quiet , watching him pick out a coat before coming to rest on his shoulders-completing his look.

To be fair,Lucious was expecting Jamal to settle as a mouse or squirrel or something equally soft-which were the animals forms that Azelei preffered.At first Lucious didn’t notice, too focused on pressing matters.

“Boy, where have you been?”He asked softly, the only indicator of his rage being the sizzling of Kali.

“I went to see Mom”

“Mal, you can visit you’re mother at any time, but you can’t have an interview with Kour magazine _every day_ ”

“Do you know how _important_ this interview was”

“It was meant to secure empire’s image as a family company-and _you_ ruined it, for what?For your jailbird mother”By now he was yelling and Kali was all but boiling.

“Don’t talk about Mom like that”Jamal said, his firm words accompanied by a loud hiss.

Azelei came up from Jamal’s sleeve,a solid golden-yellow viper looking ready to strike.

“On the contrary Jamal, let him _speak_ , Lucious repeat that _statement_ ”The  daemon hissed, opening its mouth wide –daring him to speak.

“Go to your room boy, and don’t come out until I say so”Lucious ordered, swiftly hiding how rattled he felt(was that how people felt everytime Kali threatened them?).

Visibly struggling to reign in his temper,Jamal walked to the stairs, and when he got there-he paused…

“Azelei settled today, I went to the prison to show Mom because I wanted her to be the first to know”He said, still not looking back he continued.

“This is me Dad, and from now on, I’m through with you treating us like dirt”

“Oh…congratulations on your father of the year award-I hope the interview went well”

 It took years for Lucious to finally understand why Jamal was also a viper.

At first the boy seemed to have no cunning, little to no viciousness and was still much too soft in Lucious’ books.

Then when the family’s enemies started coming out from the wood works, baying for blood, he finally realized why.

Jamal and Az, didn’t have Andre and Vera’s natural sharpness.They didn’t have the charisma that Cookie, Ra as well as Hakeem and Khaila wore like a second skin. And the boy definitely didn’t have Lucious’ viciousness, at least that was what Lucious thought until he saw the boy in action.

Because of Jamal’s docile nature it was easy to assume that Az wasn’t venomous, that the daemon was just there for ornamental reasons.But then Diana Dubois and her bag of cats had come and all of a sudden Jamal was there.

Hissing and spitting, taking down the old hag’s nephew with some very solid punches , while Az took down the man’s lemur daemon…there most certainly was venom then, and even Az’s ridiculous eyebrows shifted, looking more like horns the angrier she got.

After the fight with the Dubois was done, Jamal went back to looking weak, but Lucious was no longer fooled by that.

Just like him Jamal was a snake, and even if Lucious would never see eye to eye with him on a lot of things,the pieces of himself Lucious could see in the boy’s soul were enough for him to admit that he still had a place in his heart for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a list of the daemons:  
> Andre-Leopard, Rhonda wildcat  
> Hakeem-Rainbow Lorikeet  
> Cookie-Peacock  
> Lucious- saw-scaled Viper  
> Jamal-Eyelash viper


End file.
